Viewers who were scanning cable news on November 14, 2023 might have thought they stumbled onto a sort of bizarre coverage of professional wrestling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy shoved Representative Tim Burchett, and a chase ensued. This is hardly politics as normal in America, but it’s not unprecedented. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, legislative violence was far more common. State legislatures and Congress sporadically erupted into violence. Lawmakers assaulted each other during debates, and in one case it resulted in death. Arming members of Congress didn’t help matters. It was all too easy to get hot-tempered during a fractious debate and pull a weapon. In 1850, when Senator Thomas Hart Benton lunged at Senator Henry Foote for insulting him, Foote responded by pulling out a pistol and pointing it at Benton. In this case, nothing happened. The gun was taken from Foote and the matter ended, but the potential for bloodshed was real. Congress had become a dysfunctional battleground of sectional distrust and the national government seemed unable to bridge the divide. Violence of all kinds is on the rise, and members of Congress are paying the price. Now, as in the 1850s, congressional violence is representative of our nation as a whole. We would be well-advised to heed this warning and tone down our rhetoric and outrage, for the good of the nation.
